Mixed bag of local COVID news: good news is, our local new hospitalization rate continues to drop. Bad news is, deaths are up, pediatric cases are up, and we completely exhausted our metro ICU capacity for a time over the holiday weekend. Burnet CISD shuts down for two days, while Lockhart ISD leaves the list of local mask-optional districts, opting to mandate masks indoors. UT, so far, sees only limited COVID spread on campus. The U.S. Justice Department weighs in on new abortion restrictions - on the side of patients and clinics - while a pro-life whistleblower website keeps getting booted from hosting platforms and is targeted by TikTok activists. Taylor appears primed to become the home of that huge new Samsung facility. A tenth drowning in Lake Travis marks a particularly deadly year on the water. Studies find Texas one of the hardest-working U.S. states, and Austin one of the most over-valued real estate markets in the country. Austin renters are still protected, in spite of the end of the Federal eviction moratorium. And hot, dry weather settles in for the week.
